New Delhi: Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said Sunday that Russia has billions of rupees accumulated in Indian bank accounts that “so far cannot be used”.
“Our Indian friends assured us that they would offer us promising areas where they could be invested. All the other agreements including military and technical cooperation are still in force,” he added, responding to a question on the rupee-rouble mechanism and the contract for the sale of the S-400 missile system to India, while briefing the media after the G20 Summit in New Delhi Sunday.
He went on to say that the New Delhi summit has been a “milestone”, and highlighted the active role of the Indian presidency that has “genuinely consolidated the G20 members probably for the first time in its history”.
“Our BRICS partners — Brazil, India, China, South Africa have been particularly active and thanks to these consolidated positions taken by the Global South countries to uphold and protect their legitimate interest, have caused the West to be unable the Ukrainise the agenda to the detriment of the tasks facing the developing countries (sic),” Lavrov added.
No ministerial under India’s G20 presidency resulted in a joint statement, till the adoption of the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration. The differences between the Western powers and Russia on the war in Ukraine loomed over the declaration till its adoption, as reported by ThePrint.
Commenting on the Ukrainian paragraphs, Lavrov asserted that the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration is not just about Ukraine, but on the need to settle all global conflicts in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Charter.
“We quote the Ukrainian paragraph. It is a part of the consensus. But it is not about Ukraine. Yes, the Ukrainian crisis is mentioned but only in the context of the need to settle all conflicts that exist in the world and settle those conflicts in accordance with all the principles of the United Nations Charter in their fullness and interconnectedness,” he added.
Lavrov claimed that the West is unable to maintain an intelligent discussion the moment any talks on Ukraine begin, adding that all the West only demands that Russia “stop its aggression” and restore Ukraine’s “territorial integrity”.
Lavrov highlighted that the UN Charter also mentions the principle of equality and self-determination of the people, after the principle of sovereignty, explaining that when, “in February 2014 a coup d’etat took place in Kyiv and putschists came into power the first thing they did was to declare that they wanted to eliminate the Russian language as another state language”.
This, Lavrov asserts, led the inhabitants of Crimea and the Donbas to “not want to live in such a country”.
“This attitude to their own country is what took Kyiv to undermine its own territorial integrity,” he added.
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On Black Sea Grain Initiative
Lavrov said that it is possible to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), but only if it works for both Ukraine and Russia — “…not only export of Ukrainian grain, but also eliminate any obstacles in the export of Russian wheat, other grains and fertilisers”.
Lavrov also believes that the efforts of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to restart the BSGI are seemingly “doomed”. He wondered whether the UN secretary-general may be being used to promoting unilateral approaches.
“The point of his address is to resume the Ukrainian deal right now and then within a month we will re-swift (connect to the international SWIFT banking network) the RSHB Bank…they are trying to convince us to agree to a completely unrealistic idea about a branch of the RSHB Bank in Luxembourg. However, this branch is not licensed to conduct banking operations…it is going to be closed quite soon,” Lavrov added.
On a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire
Lavrov said that Russia does not mind “negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine, but any such negotiation must take into account the reasons that have been “accumulating for decades upon decades due to NATO’s aggressive policy”.
“And NATO now considers itself to be a global organisation and it has created direct threats to Russia’s security at our borders,” Lavrov added.
With regards to the possibility of settlement of the conflict with Ukraine, he said: “About 18 months ago, we agreed to sign a treaty about settling this conflict. We even initialled these documents. After that the Anglo-Saxons ordered [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to not to sign it because they thought they could reap some concessions from us.”
“Everyone is tired of this topic. Everyone knows that this war started by the West with the hands and bodies of Ukrainians — started against the Russian Federation, it would be good to stop,” Lavrov added. “The Kyiv regime that has proclaimed the purpose of destroying everything Russian — the Russian language, Russian history, Russian language media…right now Ukrainian officials are threatening to physically destroy Russians.”
Lavrov further asked why no one is mentioning the fact that Zelenskyy signed a decree last year, “which is essentially a legal ban for any negotiations with Russia”.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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